Tracking Covid-19’s impact on meatpacking workers and industry

Updated August 3, 2020

*Blanks in the above map mean that no exact numbers have been reported

Using news reports, company press releases, state and federal data and original reporting, we're keeping track of the coronavirus's effect on the meatpacking industry, including positive cases among workers and employee deaths. We've incorporated figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 1 and July 7.

We'll continue updating through the outbreak.

As of Aug. 3, there have been at least 34,200 reported positive cases tied to meatpacking facilities in at least 375 plants in 39 states, and at least 137 reported worker deaths in at least 43 plants in 24 states.

"Tied to" includes positive tests among workers and people who interacted with workers, such as family members; it's primarily workers who have tested positive. If that distinction has been reported, we note it in the database. We are not including in the count incidents where "many," "numerous," etc. were used, and we're rounding down if numbers are reported as approximate. Read our methodology below the database.

You can search by company name or location (city, county, state). Each plant has the following information:

• the number of positive cases tied to it
• the number of workers who worked at the plant who died, if deaths have been reported
• the date positive cases at the plant were first reported in the media (this is NOT when workers tested positive)
• if the plant closed down at some point, the date it closed down and the date of its reopening
• if it's available, the total number of workers at the plant and the number of workers who were tested
• the type of meat processed at the facility
• the USDA establishment number

Click the green button to see the additional information, sources used and links to the original articles.

Almost half of the facilities that have outbreaks have not been identified at this time, and about a third of the workers who have died have not been linked to a particular plant (the CDC only reports aggregate figures). If you have information on facilities that haven't had outbreaks reported publicly yet or on plants with worker deaths not publicly reported, let us know at sky.chadde@investigatemidwest.org, or visit our page on how to share information with us securely.

If you are a meatpacking worker or an FSIS inspector and have a tip to share, visit the page on how to contact us securely.